Tape measures are commonly used throughout the world in numerous trades and by professionals and amateurs alike. Carpenters, mechanics, construction workers, architects, designers, painters, real estate estimators, textile manufacturers, and workers in many other professions as well as do-it-yourselfers employ tape measures on a regular basis. Mechanical tape measures conventionally extend a tape of metal, plastic or fabric from a wound position inside a casing, to an extended position a distance from the edge of the casing. Because of their compact size and concurrent ability to measure distances many times the size of the casing in which they are wound, tape measures are an indispensable tool for their users.
When a tape measure is employed by an amateur or professional, there is generally a need to record each measurement taken to calculate some type of requirement, or to build or manufacture some type of component to occupy the space measured. A vexing problem which frequently arises is the high possibility of error in transcribing the measurements viewed by the user onto paper. Busy professionals are frequently interrupted while taking complex measurements for custom installations, retrofit, or repairs. Consequently, it is all too easy for such a user to view the measurement printed on the tape, and either forget to write it down, or to write it down incorrectly. Incorrect transcription can also happen if the user has poor eyesight, or dyslexia, or for a myriad of other reasons. The same errors occur more often with do-it-yourself users and amateurs.
Further, even with the correct measurements, tape measure users who transcribe the measurements viewed on the tape onto paper still must use those measurements for calculation of the ultimate reason for the measurements. For example, drywall installers must at some point buy the correct amount of drywall for the measured areas and then cut the drywall to the sizes measured. Painters must measure the area of wall surfaces to be painted, ascertain how many coats of paint are required, and then purchase sufficient paint in gallons to cover the total aggregate surface area measured. Another example would be carpenters or wall framers who must measure the length, width, and height of areas for designated walls. All the measurements must be transcribed to paper or some other means for recording them, whereafter the amount of wood and nails required for the job will have to be determined. Building codes and other issues can affect this total of materials needed. A multitude of other jobs and products depend upon accurate measurements using a tape measure and accurate transcription of each measurement to a record and subsequent accurate calculation from the recorded measurements of the products to purchase or custom components to manufacture using the recorded measurements.
As can be ascertained, this process is fraught with peril for the amateur and infrequent user of the tape measure and is overly time-consuming and poses the risk of mental and transcription errors when employed by the professional. Further, with no real template or means for orderly calculation of the different trades and tasks for which the measurements are taken, many hours can be lost in making the ultimate products, and much waste can occur with improperly purchased or manufactured products using improperly recorded or calculated measurements.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,230,159 (Lipsey) teaches a device with a calculator releasably attached to a conventional tape measure. However, Lipsey simply provides a calculator in the proximity of the tape to the user and offers no organized means of recording measurements that are trade-specific or which are stored for use in relation to each other and the trade for later custom fabrication.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,426,863 (Biggel) teaches a combined tape measure and calculator and employs equally spaced holes along the length of its tape to ascertain an electronic reading. The holes are read by a number of closely spaced optical readers arranged to generate incremental unit signals for a microprocessor. Individual or sequential measurements can be taken; however, Biggel offers onboard means for an orderly recording of related measurements and total aggregate measurements. Neither does Biggel provide any means to change the tape to provide calculations and measurement storage in a manner conventional to individual trades like carpentry or drywall and the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,313 (Rijlaarsadam) discloses a wheeled measuring and calculating instrument for the determination of lengths, areas, peripheries and volumes. However, this device too lacks any onboard storage of data in a manner that allows logical relation of measurements to each other, and in a trade-specific format that provides for both calculation of materials, and storage of related measurements for use to cut or build components to size.
Other combinations of measuring instruments with simple calculators are taught as well as numerous manners for electronic, magnetic, and optical reading of the tape extension to an electronic display and calculator. However, such devices provide no means to adapt the measuring device to the trade for which it is being used and to provide means to store the measurements in a relational form for later use, nor any industry specific calculation ability that aids individual professional and amateur users with error free and accurate calculations and renditions of the measurements.
Consequently, none of these previous efforts in the art provide the benefits attendant with the present invention. The present invention achieves its intended purposes, objects and advantages over the prior art devices through a new, useful and unobvious combination of method steps and component elements, with the use of a minimum number of functioning parts, at a reasonable cost to manufacture and by employing readily available materials.
As such, there exists a need for a tape measure that will provide indicia on the tape itself for a visual read of the measurement and concurrently provide an electronic means of display and recording of each measurement taken. Such a device should allow for easy recording and storage of each measurement, with no need to use a paper or pencil or write down the viewed measurement. Such a device should not only record each measurement, but do so in relation to the other measurements taken for each item measured.
Additionally, such a device should allow for on-site calculation of material required for the trade for which the measurements are taken, using the input measurements. The calculations made by the device should be adaptable to any trade for which the device is used. For example, carpenters should be able to use the device to record measurements and calculate wood requirements or to form structures from wood based on the measurements. Drywall installers should be able to take the measurements, store them, calculate materials to be used, and print lists of drywall dimensions to cut from the material. Or, a home appraiser or carpet installer should be able to record measurements by room and later use them for calculations as to size of the home or carpet needed.
Ideally then, the device should employ a basic component that provides a mechanically extending tape that provides visual means to ascertain a measurement, and using one or a plurality of input buttons to record an electronic rendition of each measurement without having to write or transcribe the measurement viewed. Preferably, this recording of measurements should be accomplished without taking the user's hand off the measuring tape. Further, the device should have a user adaptable or configurable data processing capability that allows for calculations for materials and/or custom dimensions of components to be formed, which relate to the trade for which the measurements are taken. This data processing ability should ideally be adapted to accept one or a plurality of programming packages in the base unit, each of which are adapted to the trade for which the measurements are being taken. Preferably such programming packages that are executed on the data processor of the device will supply templates for orderly means for recording of the measurements as they are taken and as they relate to each other and the trade. Ideally, the software programming would provide a simple graphic interface for the measurements during their taking and for calculations as to materials required and depictions of components to be cut. Finally, it would be especially useful for many users if a camera were included and engaged to the data processor to associate a photograph with one or a plurality of measurement sets to provide the user with a visual reference to the location of the measurements.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent construction insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.